Page 200 of The Dryad Storm

She wants a fasting, and she wants itnow.She’sthe Magedom’s Black Witch—its true Black Witch all along—and she deserves access to Marcus’s full, unbridledstorm. Which will cement her status as the most powerful Black Witch the Magedom has ever seen.

So why is she following Vogel like a dog brought to heel?

Her resentment mounts as she trails him through the dead-tree-bracketed interior of the church then into a back corridor, Vogel dismissing the few soldiers stationed there as they pass.

Fallon has to bite back her snarl of protest as they descend into the church’s lower levels via a spiraling staircase cut into grayed stone and Vogel opens the door to a former wine cellar, the heathen spirits removed and likely smashed to pieces, only empty shelves cut into rock remaining.

Fallon’s anger breaks loose, brittle hoarfrost coating the room as Vogel shuts the door, throws the lock and faces her down. His pale green eyes are rimmed with silvery fire that quickly deepens, igniting to darker flame, a blast of his heat pulsing toward her.

Fallon gasps at the sensation, all her hoarfrost instantly melting, Vogel’s radiating aura of heat forcing so much steam through her lines that her angered protest singes away in her throat.

“I thought you sought a fasting,” she demands, dizzy from his fiery draw, but angling to regain a position of strength with him.

And wanting him more than she’s ever wanted anyone.

Smoothly, Marcus closes the distance between them, slides a hand around her waist and draws her against him. Fallon’s pulse quickens as he brings his mouth toward the base of her neck, a more wanton desire shivering through her. His mouth is so thrillingly hot against her skin, his body radiating heat straight through his silken uniform.

An incredible amount of heat.

“Do you want a full binding to me?” Vogel croons, his hot lips tracing her skin.

Fallon’s skin prickles against his touch, hunger igniting low in her body, everything in her ready for a full fasting to him... and more.

Ready for a fullSealing.

“Fast to me, Marcus, andSealit,” she growls, ready to feel him unleashed.

Ready to feel his full storm inside her.

So she can wrest hold of it.

“My Black Witch,” he croons as he runs his tongue along the nape of her neck in such a shockingly serpentine motion, an excited tremor tingles through her. “I want your ice,” Vogel murmurs, and she canhearthat bite of want in his tone. “I want your purifyingstorm.”

“It’s yours, Marcus,” she breathes.

He draws back slightly, the side of his mouth curling into an enticing smile as he holds out his free hand. “Give me your hands.”

An icy thrill coursing through her, Fallon places both her hands in his, and Vogel’s fingers close around them. In one deft movement, he presses his Shadow Wand to her skin and murmurs the fasting and Sealing spells.

Fallon draws in a tremulous breath as steel gray lines tendril out from Vogel’s Wand and loop around their hands, the lines undulating, then pulling in to fuse with their skin in an identical gray smoking pattern.

Vogel’s power winds around her lines in a warm rush before seizing tight hold of them in a shock of burning heat.

Before she can protest, Vogel brings his mouth to hers with bruising force.

Fallon gasps against the kiss as a more painful blast of fire shocks down her throat and sears through every line, her body trembling against Vogel’s as the sudden bite of claws pierces through her tunic at the same moment that unnaturally sharp teeth slice into her lips.

Her shocked fury turns seismic.

Yanking her bloodied lips from his, she lurches back, just as a tearing sound rips through the air. Pieces of Vogel’s shredded tunic flutter to the ground, and she freezes in horror as she finds Vogel before her, terrifyingly transformed.

Her whole world tilting into chaos, she reaches for her wand at the same moment that Vogel flicks his Shadow Wand toward her.

Fallon cries out as bindings snare tight around her wrists, ankles, and wand, the wand yanked away and her arms pulled behind her back and bound, her ankles tethered to the floor.

She meets Vogel’s merciless stare, feeling as if the ground is giving way beneath her.

“Release me,” she demands in a quavering voice, realizing, even as she makes the demand, that it’s over. It’s all over. “Release me, or I’ll tell the entire Magedom what you are.”

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